Native Indians have faced much despair throughout history. Their land, traditions, and self respect are but a small fraction of what they have lost. No event can compare to the mass removal of Cherokee Indians from their ancestral land. This massive, forced migration to Indian Territory is the most shameful event in U.S. history. The plight and peril these Indians faced produced unheard of suffering and death. What lead to the Cherokee removal, what did the Cherokees face during their migration, and was this removal justified, are a few questions one must ask. We will visit these topics, as to try to understand the mindset of those that caused the suffering, as well as those who endured it.
Prior to the arrival of the whites, ten million Native Americans existed on our continent. European explorers driven by greed began their task of getting rid of the Native Indians. In over 300 years, 90% of the Native Indian present on our continent, were wiped out by either disease, warfare, or famine brought about by the whites. Removal of Indians was a practice that was in place prior to that of the removal of the Cherokees, yet no other can compare to the devastating event of Cherokee removal.
A formal removal policy was adopted by the U.S. government in 1825. Whites that moved into areas west of the Mississippi pushed for a resolution to the “Indian problem.” The removal act was carried out extensively by President Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. Many Indian tribes were moved hundreds of miles from their home. The most devastating move was of course that of the Cherokee Indians. The Treaty of New Echota was a license to kill. This treaty was used by the United States government to justify the removal. A hundred Cherokee’s known as the treaty Party illegally signed the treaty which relinquished all lands east of the Mississippi River in exchange for land in Indian Territory. The treaty is said to be signed illegally because the Cherokee Nation Counsel...